Hi Taurus,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I hear you brother about no handgun hunting in Canada, I wish we could use them but can't; therefore I am not in to them and spend my play cash on other stuff.

Let me know how your Barnes bullets shoot, I have only used them in my muzzleloader, where they worked great. I have a bunch of Nosler Partions in stock so I have been using them up before I give the new Barnes- X triple shocks a try. I have shot a lot of deer with Hornady Spire points (.30 cal 165gr and 180 gr) with good success, not as rapid expansion/energy transfer but then they almost always exited, leaving a good blood trail. This is nice as we rifle hunt deer in very thick balsam cover. I used Nosler B-Tips (similar to SST's) on 6 deer and they usually went down on the spot, but penetration was limited do to rapid expansion.

The sleep system I was thinking about is a smaller one than Hacksaw posted; like a small bag (maybe the inner bag of the Canadian system), with a Heetsheet Bivy inside or maybe outside, used in combination with your clothing to reach cold weather temps.

I had a one piece mustang suit about 10 years ago and would really sweat in it when drilling ice holes by hand. The foam insulation came loose and all fell to the bottom so I trashed it. I used a Scent-Lok suit this year while deer hunting in the snow and got extremely hot, it trapped the heat in to the point where even my poly-pro undershirt was soaked.

I have the same Kurki machete as you and when I find it in the house I will give it a try on the lake ice?

I have eaten a lot of Canadian rations but only a few American, I like there snack bread and jam better than ours.

I have found the white Canadian Mitts at Army Surplus Stores for a good price but I needed a pair in black colour. The new ones sold at SIR are the current military issue and you can get them in both colours, so I bought a black pair for around $100.00. They are the best mitts I have ever used, I wear Thermax glove liners inside the mitts so when I take the big mitts off to work my hands do not freeze.

I liked the pack you posted earlier and was suprised on the reasonable price when I checked out the website.

Later,

Mike